Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
I go through phases when I cook. Sometimes I will make meals that require me to pull out every pot and pan to others that only require only one pan — these meals are also commonly known as “One Pot Wonders”. My first of these simple meals was out of necessity. While visiting a friend who thought “takeout” was a food group, I offered to cook a homemade meal for us. After locating only one skillet, I thought for sure that the rest of the pans had to be in some hidden location. To my surprise, I came to learn that my friend was the owner of only one pan. Hiding my disbelief, I set off to the grocery store with a couple ideas in the back of my head. Precooked shrimp was on sale that day so I decided to make a version of a shrimp dish that I had previously made with tomatoes, feta, and oregano.
In my “one pot” I sautéed onion and garlic in olive oil until softened – then I added a couple cans of diced tomatoes and cooked until the mixture thickened. After the sauce came to a simmer, I added the shrimp, oregano, salt and pepper and topped with some feta cheese. I then finished it off in the oven until the shrimp was heated through and the cheese melted. (Just a note: the skillet had an ovenproof handle, otherwise just put a lid on top and leave it to simmer on the stove.) The aroma was amazing! I served this dish right from the pan along with warm pita bread and a fresh green salad. The best part was that I only had to wash one skillet afterwards.
The possibilities are endless for these meals. A favorite of mine is TSG’s Spinach & Feta Scramble – who says you can’t have breakfast for dinner…
Fall is my favorite time of year. It’s all about the heartwarming food, the cool crisp air, the vibrant colors, and of course… Football!
Football has been a part of my life since I was a small girl. My first football memories are watching the Pittsburgh Steelers games with my dad and nibbling throughout the day on the “football food” that my mom would prepare (a “make your own taco bar” was a personal favorite!). Over the years dad started to dabble in the kitchen and would prepare our game day fare — elaborate veggie platters with dip (each vegetable was cut into perfectly sized pieces), shrimp cocktails, mini bagel dogs, chicken wings, pickled herring, and guacamole with pretzels. This unusual assortment of goodies was just to whet our appetite for the main game day attraction – Dad’s Ribs. These legendary ribs are eagerly anticipated throughout our family and friends. The process starts the night before by soaking hickory chips in water — this will ensure that the chips will not burn when they are placed around the charcoal. To prep the meat before smoking, my Dad removes the rib membrane (skin covering the back) – his secret to ensure that the hickory penetrates the meat and rib bone. The ribs are then smoked for 2 hours in a kettle grill over indirect heat. After coming off the grill, they are basted with a tangy barbecue sauce that makes these ribs irresistible.
And now that I’ve hosted a few of these game days myself, I would like to pass along to you my winning game day picks.
PreGame – Guests Arriving
Chips and salsa (I usually serve two types of salsa TSG Black Bean and Corn and a homemade version)
Hummus and pita chips
Crudité platter with assorted olives, cheeses, and flatbreads
All around this weekend the barbeques were lighted and the scent of dogs and burgers filled the air – along with major squeals from happy family get-togethers. We happened to be down the street from my brother and sister-in-law who had a healthy 26 for the weekend. We expanded with the kids home to a happy foursome – six if you count the dogs. And they should be counted for slider night.
As you well know, I love the kids coming home for all the usual reason, but also because they cook for us. With several new food magazines for inspiration – they couldn’t decide how best to celebrate the holiday. There were too many recipes for burgers to choose from, so they decided on a variety of sliders – you know –mini hamburgers so you can eat more than one without guilt!
Amazingly, a year ago, my daughter didn’t even eat hamburger (we’re talking age 20), but now she is in pursuit of the ultimate burger! Who says they don’t grow up? We all sat around discussing our favorite flavors and decided on four different varieties of burgers to try.
Burger Basics
Burgers are easy to customize with a little imagination. Just take high quality ground meat, add seasonings cut finely to mix well, some sauce or egg for binder (so it doesn’t crumble on the grill) and voila!
The men decided bacon was a must to add, that combined with barbeque sauce was one for the grill. Another version went Florentine with spinach, garlic and cheese. There was also a Mexican version with chili powder, Jack cheese and a little salsa. Or you can try the Mango Peach Salsa Sassy Burgers. Finally, there was the mushroom and cheese burgers with chipotle mayo – as you can tell we are largely a cheeseburger kind of family. We each had four tiny samples, but all were delicious!
Burger Tips
When making burgers use the finest quality meat, add finely diced herbs or other ingredients, add a binder such as egg, sauce or breadcrumbs to keep it whole on the grill. Taste test! Make a tiny burger of your favorite combination and grill first for flavor check – start light! You can always add more, but it’s harder to take out or add more meat to compensate.
Burgers Don’t Have to Be Beef
For all those years my daughter didn’t eat ground beef, that didn’t mean she didn’t eat grilled patties in a bun. Turkey burgers were a weekly staple in our house with mustard, onion and parsley for flavor. We also had our fair share of salmon burgers with mayo and dill. If you still crave meat, but want something with a little less f at, you can always use bison with a heartier flavor which is increasingly available in grocery stores.
If you can grind it, mix it and grill it – you have a burger for a holiday feast!
Believe it or not, the catalog to be released in August was shot a month ago. I spent a week tasting our new products and looking (and eating) comfort food, holiday desserts and other great treats! I thought it would be fun to show you a little of the behind the scenes effort.
We all know that you eat with your eyes as well as your mouth, so food styling for the catalog is very important. There can be a lot of “bad press” about how food stylists “cheat” the dishes to make it appropriate for a magazine shoot. Take for example ice cream, it’s impossible to get real ice cream not to melt under hot lights. But the attitude of companies, savvy consumers and digital photography have changed the issues in shooting food and allowed all of our photography to be much more “natural”.
When we prepare food for the catalog, we actually create and test recipes (that’s a popular day in the office because they get to taste finished dishes, not just product). At the shoot our fabulous stylist Catrine Kelty prepares each of the dishes (with leftovers) and then works with our great photographer Paul Saraceno to bring it to you in the best possible light.
It’s true that we do help out our dishes a little – after all they do have to sit on the table for hours at a time and need to keep looking fresh. We spritz the lettuce with water to make it glisten, hand arrange the leaves, stack berries just so, and melt our cheese with a gun that peels paint off walls so it gets perfectly brown.
Tips to Make Your Table Look Great
Here are the top tips that Katrine uses in preparing our food whether for photography or your family table.
Set the table beautifully – make sure you keep a nice centerpiece and candles ready to be lit every night.
Use fresh, high quality ingredients – there’s nothing more sad than wilted lettuce!
Like those quesadilla? Well here are two of our great recipes using the Two Sisters Gourmet Black Bean and Corn Salsa, but you can really add your f avorite ingredients and make them your own:
Tired of Winter, Want to have a fun party that brings to mind a warm summer day in the vineyard? Why not have a Sonoma Style dinner party with friends. Here are 10 easy tips for success from our recipe specialist Rita Held.
Ten Tips for a Sonoma-Style Dinner Party
1. Getting It Together
Several weeks ahead, invite the guests; select and print out the recipes (visit the TSG Recipe Box); and order specialty food products. Wine can be ordered online too (if your state allows it). Create to-do lists, and the day of the party follow a timetable so the casserole gets into the oven and the wines get chilled on schedule.
2. What Can I Bring?
Guests today want to bring something—a great help in these busy and uncertain times. For a more cohesive menu, assign each guest a recipe to prepare and deliver in a serving dish. Simply send them the recipe link or specify a type of dish. Ask some guests to bring wine—specify the varietal, wine region, and maximum price.
3. Sonoma-Style Dinner
While good wines come from around the world, focusing on one wine region is fun. Sonoma, one of the world’s great wine regions, is a good place to start. The wines are exceptional and prices are often lower than comparable wines from Napa. White varietals include chardonnay, gewürztraminer, sauvignon blanc, and pinot gris; reds include cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, merlot, syrah, and zinfandel. Sonoma also produces excellent sparkling wines.
4. What Wines to Serve?
Believe it or not, choosing wine is the easiest part of menu planning. Simply serve what you like—and forget outdated wine rules. If you adore chardonnay, drink it with everything. To serve a variety of wines, select light whites or reds for light dishes, and choose full-bodied whites and reds for hearty dishes. Here are some suggested pairings with Two Sisters Gourmet recipes:
Plan on at least 2 glasses of wine per person for a daytime affair. For a long party, allow up to a bottle per guest.
6. Sonoma Wine and Food Pairing
Choose at least half dozen wine varietals to serve. The goal is to find the best wine for each dish on the menu. Taste one dish with all of the wines, and then repeat until each wine has been compared to each dish. Start with the mildest dish and the lightest wine. Here’s what to do: 1) Swirl the wine in the glass and immediately take a sip—think about how the wine tastes and feels. 2) Take a bite of food. 3) Swirl and sip the wine again. Did the food alter the taste of the wine? If each sip of wine tasted similar—and you liked the flavor after tasting the food—it is a good match. Discuss what combinations you liked best and why; which ones weren’t as good and why.
7. Wine Temperatures
For wine to taste best, it must be at the right temperature. Whites should be chilled but not ice-cold. To quick-chill whites, submerge the bottle in ice water for 15 minutes, or refrigerate about 2 hours. Red wine bottles should feel cool to the touch. If the bottle is warm, refrigerate it about 1/2 hour; if too cold, leave at room temperature 1/2 hour.
8. Setting the Table for Wine
Put the water glass on the far right, above the knife. Arrange the wine glasses to the left of the water, above the plate. One glass for each wine (or one for red and one for white) is ideal. If a single glass is used, rinse it between wines. Clear, long-stemmed wine glasses that curve in slightly at the top and hold at least 12-ounces are ideal.
A wine glass should be filled no more than 1/3 full—that allows space for swirling the wine to release aromas and aerate the wine. It is easier to swirl the glass without spilling if the base of the glass is on the table—hold the glass by the stem and quickly move the glass in a circular motion.
10. Have Fun and Trust Yourself
It’s fun to talk about wine—what flavors you taste and aromas you smell. But don’t be surprised if everyone disagrees—even the experts do. Just as people have different opinions about food, the wine palate is very personal. Trust your own opinion.
With a peak season in March and April, I think the vegetable most closely associated with spring is asparagus. It seems to grace the cover of every magazine. Everyone is tired of root vegetables after this long and snowy winter and the image of a green asparagus just screams spring.
History of Asparagus
Asparagus is a member of the lily family – see very spring. This vegetable has been around for centuries and was popular among the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians. Emperor Augustus is said to have coined the phrase “as quick as cooking asparagus.” Louis the XVI also loved the plant and had his gardeners grow it year round in green houses, stemming its modern romance. Thomas Jefferson had a whole garden reserved for growing asparagus.
How to Purchase and Store Asparagus
Asparagus is on the expensive side and tends to be a party food. That’s because you can’t harvest an asparagus plant for the first three years, and it is labor intensive to grow. It is high in Folic Acid and a good source of potassium, fiber, vitamin B6, A and C, and thiamin.
Many people are a little unsure of what to do. When selecting asparagus, choose firm stalks with deep green tips that are closed. Asparagus with slimmer stalks tends to be more tender. Store them with the bottom wrapped in a damp paper towel in the coldest part of the refrigerator. As with all fresh things, eat as soon as possible to get the most flavor and nutrients.
5 Great Recipes Ideas
As the Romans knew, cooking asparagus is a snap. Just steam or drop a bundle in boiling water for a couple of minutes, until bright green. You can also spray with a little oil and grill for a short period. Asparagus can be used in a variety of ways – straight as a salad with a little dressing, as a crudités with any dip or in other interesting recipes. Here are two salad dressings you can use with asparagus, and three other delicious Two Sisters Gourmet recipes.
Super Bowl Sunday is almost a national holiday! I’m pretty sure where most of you will be on Sunday, Feb. 7 – and it isn’t at the mall (although if it’s not your team a chick flick might be a good idea! The Blind Side with Sandra Bullock is a great film.)
For those of you who will participate in this national past time, make a resolution to make this year one you can enjoy with your guests! While there is lots of mindless eating going on, you can still stand out as a great hostess.
The number one food to make the guys happy is Pigs in a Blanket – whether you buy them ready made or make them yourself (just wrap refrigerated crescent roll dough around your favorite little sausage – we like smokey links) and dip in Racy Wasabi Raspberry Mustard.
What’s your favorite recipe?
If you want to go beyond just mixing up your favorite TSG seasoning with some sour cream and mayo for a quick dip, here are 5 great ideas to kick off your successful Sunday afternoon!
1. Pigs in a Blanket with Racy Wasabi Rasperry Mustard
I can’t count the nights that I don’t begin to think about dinner until I open the refrigerator door and everyone starts asking me “What’s for dinner?” Of course with TSG, we like to think you can add a little excitement to any meal you make by going to the Recipe Box and looking up your favorite TSG products…..
But if you aren’t that fortunate, we have found some help. At My Fridge Food, you can actually click on your favorite ingredients and it will pull up recipes for you to choose from. I put in cheese, salt and pepper, eggs, milk, pasta and chicken and it pulled up nearly 100 recipes ranked by the percentage of required ingredients I had on hand. It also gives the number of ingredients, time and number of calories in the dish. Truth be told, I probably had the missing ingredients in most cases…..but it’s fun to see what creative things you can make with so little!
Tell me, what’s in your ‘fridge and what do you do with it?
At the end of the holidays, I don’t know about you, but my fridge needs a good cleaning – so I can see the shelves again. If you feel the same after weeks of treats and leftovers, you might enjoy this. On the lighter side, here is a photo essay on what your fridge says about you! For a good laugh and some self awareness!
Family Thoughts on Thanksgiving and Food Thoughts on Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving dinner is the one time no one in the family will ask me “What’s for dinner?” Like families all over the country, we have a ritual dinner. Every year I am tantalized by all the great and interesting recipes in the food magazines that find their way into my mailbox, but I am NEVER allowed to indulge in them. The only time I get to vary the menu is when we open our doors and include traveling waifs who can’t go “home” for Thanksgiving. We want everyone at our table to have something that reminds them of home, so I get to expand.
Thanksgiving may be officially the fourth Thursday of November, but in our house, and I believe many houses, it’s really at least a four day affair. This year, we will be having Thanksgiving at the beach, which sometimes means that all the Edwards gather and we have a large and noisy bunch. That’s when I get to try different things, we have multiples of everything, turkeys, stuffing , potatoes, pies – you name it.
Origins of Thanksgiving Dishes and Wishes
This year will be a smaller, quieter retreat. The older the family gets, the more connections we have to other families, and the more we share the people, the customs and the time. Traditionally, most Thanksgiving foods are those native to American soil. Turkey is ubiquitous – over 91% eat turkey on Thanksgiving. They say if you look at your Thanksgiving table you can tell where your family originates within the U.S.
Mole and Roasted Corn, - Hispanic Americans of Mexican heritage
Lefse and Green Beans – Midwesterners of Scandinavian heritage (lefse is Norwegian potato flatbread)
On our Table for Thanksgiving – In addition to the Cornucopia!
Shrimp Cocktail and Fresh Hot Rolls
Black Olives – lots!
Fresh whole Cranberry Sauce (is your family whole berry or strained?)
Turkey (don’t forget the Butterball Hotline!) link to other post.
Aunt Ida’s Sage and Sausage Stuffing (not sure who Aunt Ida was)
Giblet Gravy ( we had to wait till they were a little older for the giblets)
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin and Minced Pie
My Thanksgiving Wishes
What I love about Thanksgiving is that it is the most American of all holidays – everyone within our shores is invited to the table to celebrate. It’s a day of peace and promise as we gather to be thankful for the blessings we have. It’s a little island of calm before the holiday rush. Food is one of the most fundamental ways of connecting. I know at our table we will be thankful for family and friends (including those we don’t know yet). We wish the same for you at this time and hope you will share the season…
Over the holidays an easy way to entertain at home is hosting a brunch. This is also a great way to feed your overnight house guests. Below are three easy brunch menus that are real holiday guest pleasers.
I can’t count the nights that I don’t begin to think about dinner until I open the refrigerator door and everyone starts asking me “What’s for dinner?” Of course with TSG, we like to think you can add a little excitement to any meal you make by going to the 
